10 September 2010

US Postal Service issues a stamp featuring a gesneriad

The United States Postal Service, as part of a 12-year series on the "Nature of America", has issued "Hawaiian Rain Forest" featuring 24 native Hawaiian species of plants and animals. Click the link below to see and read more:

No comments:

Frequently Asked Questions about the GRC

Welcome to the Gesneriad Research Center's Blog!

The GRC is the center in North America for botanical research on the plant family Gesneriaceae. Here on the GRC blog, you will find updates on GRC activities including research, education and conservation efforts. It's easy to subscribe to the GRC blog (see below) to get email notifications of entries and updates so you will always know the latest.

Subscribe to the GRC blog.

Mission of the Gesneriad Research Center

To increase and diffuse knowledge of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae through exploration, research, professional collaborations, and education, and to facilitate conservation initiatives that benefit gesneriads and the tropical ecosystems where they occur.

What is a gesneriad?

Gesneriads (pronounced "guess-NARE-ee-ads") are tropical plants in the plant family Gesneriaceae, a diverse group of species that range in size from small teacup-sized windowsill plants to trees taller than a house. Commonly known gesneriads include African violets (Saintpaulia) and lipstick plants (Aeschynanthus). Gesneriads are often quite striking, exhibiting a wide range of growth forms, flower colors and fruit types. In all, there are over 3000 species of gesneriads found throughout the world's tropical forests. The Gesneriad Research Center was founded in 2007 to coordinate and conduct research and conservation geared towards understanding and preserving this important family of flowering plants.